Northern Humboldt Regional 4th through 6th grade Spelling Bee

BLUE LAKE - Thirteen schools throughout Northern Humboldt brought 21 of their most talent spellers to Blue Lake Elementary, Thursday, for chance to compete for the top spot in the regional spelling bee.

"It always amazes me, because this is exciting in front of all of these parents here. But at school, for the school spelling bee, these kids went up in front of their entire class of 120 students. One hundred and twenty of their peers, so that's a pretty stressful situation and they did a really nice job," said McKinleyville Middle Principal, Julie Giannini-Previde.

These students are only in 4th through 6th grade but their school principals know how an individual academic competition like this, lays a foundation for school success.

Jacoby Creek Principal, Catherine Stone said,"It builds confidence, but more importantly, it shows them that they have the knowledge and they know what they have learned over the years in school."

"You know it is a different thing for kids to get attention for. They can get attention for participating in a geography bee or a spelling bee, or some other academic competition and I think it's really special for them to get that kind of attention," said Giannini-Previde.

The regional spelling bee competition had two winners, Kai Hansen from Jacoby Creek and Jack Malast from Blue Lake. The boys were asked, how they felt after the big win.

Hansen said, "I'm feeling great, I never expected to get this far, so yeah, feeling awesome."

"I'm crazy excited," said Malast.

The winners from each of the five regions in Humboldt County will continue on to the county spelling bee competition held in March. That winner will then head to Stockton, Ca for the state finals.

"Our young man who did so well today, his goal this year, his family's goal, was for him to understand what it means to be a scholar. And he just proved it and you could see the pride in him and how excited he was and the moment he realized he had done well. It was just every principals dream, to see a child succeed like that," said Stone.

The county spelling bee is on March 15th at the Humboldt County Office of Education.

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